


Tell Me A Story of Love and Woe

by navaan



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Character Study, Drama, Episode: s04e08 Human Nature, Episode: s04e18 The End of Time (2), Gen, Stand Alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-16
Updated: 2010-02-16
Packaged: 2017-10-13 00:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/131005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Verity Newman knows now, that the man her grandmother wrote about, really exists... But she never knew the whole story. And she couldn't know how people would react to her book.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tell Me A Story of Love and Woe

When Verity Newman had found her grandmother's account of her love story with a man named John Smith, she had been very intrigued. All the family knew was that Joan had been widowed before meeting her second husband. About everything else she had been very tight lipped. But the love she'd written about here had come to her before meeting Verity's grandfather. She had seen the dates and had imagined a tragic love story, brutally ended by the start of the war. Instead the amazing story she'd found had been a piece of science-fiction. But her grandmother professed in every word that the tale was true. 

It was unbelievable, but true.

And it was such an amazing tale that Verity, already the author of two acclaimed novels, could not just let this lie dormant on the family attic. She had found another book, which her grandmother had sealed away with her journal, that in a scrawly handwriting and with sketchily done illustration had given bits and pieces of another unbelievable story. It was the journal of dreams the traveler had kept while he had forgotten all about himself. The notes gave no consistent account of a life (or lifetimes). The man had written everything down as he had dreamed it, which was far from a linear story, but gave interesting and unbelievable glimpses into the life of an alien adventurer.

She could never have imagined that he would be on earth to hear of her book. And even days after she had signed a copy for him – the Doctor - she couldn't really believe that he had still had an interest in her grandmother's life story. He had asked her if she had been happy and she had said yes, because her grandmother _had_ led a happy life, with a family who loved her and everything she had wanted for herself. 

It was remarkable that _he_ with a lifetime impossibly long and filled with adventures beyond believe had not forgotten about Joan, though.

When Verity had told her sister about the man turning up at her book signing, she had listened and just smiled in disbelief. But it had been him, Verity was sure. The description her grandmother had given had been too accurate. Even the way he was dressed had been exactly the way her grandmother had remembered. The coat and pinstriped suit had been what he had worn the last time that Joan had ever seen him – when she had declined his offer to come with him and travel through the universe.

Her mother and father didn't believe Verity's tale either. 

“The story has gone to your head, love. My mother was never known to make up stories like that, but something terrible happened at that school and maybe that was her way of dealing with it. She probably lost the man she loved then. Some people were killed and it was never really explained what happened. People were talking of ghosts and murder, then came World War I... I remember people asking her about it once or twice, but she never gave any real explanation about what she had seen. Not that I know of.”

Her family couldn't make Verity waver in her belief that she _had_ met the traveler from the stars. The man her grandmother had loved and let go. 

In a bookshop of all places she'd made her personal first contact.

Then suddenly e-mails arrived. Her editor was bemused that she was getting “fan mail” by crazy alien hunters and weirdos, but one or two of the messages were just so genuine, that Verity began to believe. There was a girl, a young journalist from London named Sally Sparrow, who told her the amazing story of how she had met the Doctor, while fighting angel statues. She had been delighted to hear from somebody who had actually met the Doctor properly. And before she knew it she and Sally had made a date and talked face to face. Sally and her fiancée Larry had even shown her the Easter egg printed on a DVD and the transcript of their strange talk with the Doctor. Now she knew, that the man in the bookshop had indeed been the time traveler, and that he had been traveling with a girl named Martha. 

Martha. The servant employed by John Smith at the school. The servant her grandmother had written about. A girl that in her opinion had made so many improper scenes. 

What had become of her? Who was she? Where was she now?

More people started to email her stories about the Doctor. Some were blatantly untrue and some sounded genuine, but the description of the Doctor was a little off. A woman named Angela Wisher told her how she had helped a blond “Time Lord” to stop a mad man from killing a whole generation of kids with toys. She described the Doctor as a blond man who wore a beige cricket frock and a hat. Verity didn't know what to make of it, but took out the notes of John Smith and found the Illustration of all the faces of the Doctor. The notes weren't overly clear on the subject, but all these men seemed to be the Doctor or at least had called themselves by that name. 

Maybe it was a title to be passed on?

A man named Elton contacted her and warned that his search for the Doctor had made him and his group of friends a target for aliens. He was reluctant to meet, but told his story over the phone. 

All in all the material for a new book began to pile up, without her family even suspecting. Her editor was thrilled when she told her about the project. It was completely different from the novels she had done before, but it would be a nice follow up to the _Journal of Impossible Things_. She started to do more research.

Then one day, somebody came knocking on her front door. When she opened, she could only stand there speechlessly.

“Verity Newman? You look a lot like your grandmother. She was a remarkable woman.”

“You are Martha!” she exclaimed. The young woman in front of her looked different, but it was the girl she had seen in the video the Doctor had used to contact Sally Sparrow. 

“Can I come in?” she asked in a friendly tone. 

“Oh, yes, of course. Please...”

She got Martha settled at her kitchen table, served her tea and some cookies. Her hands were shaking. She had so many questions, but didn't know where to begin.

“She led a good life then, your grandmother?”

“Yes. Yes, she did. What about him? Was he happy?”

Martha gave a wistful smile. “He has seen so much, done so much. No human can ever imagine what that's like. He was always happy as long as he could travel unhindered and free. He also hid a lot of his pain.” Verity had the impression that Martha was choosing her words carefully.

“Is he...?” She didn't know how to ask. 

“Oh, he is out there somewhere, but I will not see him again, I suppose. He said goodbye in his own way... It doesn't matter now. Things change. That is not why I'm here.”

Verity looked at her. Martha's expression had suddenly turned serious and she was anxious to hear what it was all about.

“Don't write that follow up book. Stop your research, please. Friends in high places called me this morning to make me talk to you. If you won't stop it, they'll see to it. They'll make sure that it's never published. It will bring you trouble. And if some of those things get out, it could also mean trouble for the Doctor. You know? There are so many things about him that should just not get out to the wrong people, if you get my meaning.”

She nodded. “I... I never thought about it that way.” 

Martha nodded and for a moment they were sitting there in silence sipping tea. 

“It's no problem for me to just let it rest”, Verity said at last, looking at Martha with bright eyes. She told her, how the Doctor had come to get her signature. Martha gave her a sad smile at that. “Tell me about him,” Verity begged, “and tell me the real story about his romance with Joan Redfern. Tell me your part of the story. I just want to know. Please?”

The young woman looked at her, as if she was trying to see into her soul. She seemed satisfied with what she saw there. “I can do that.” She smiled and started to talk.

**Author's Note:**

> Aside from the relaunch series character's I mentioned Angela Wisher. who is a character from the BF audio Cuddlesome. I didn't pick her for any particular reason. It was just a story that played roughly around the time of the "present" I assumed for the relaunched series.


End file.
